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Party mother
"First of all, the title is horrible," she told the Mirror from her Indiana home. "They should have called it Club Icon or something. Michael is not a monster. He's a most sensitive, caring, child-like person." The homemaker-mother of two, who now goes by the name Elke Blair after divorcing Michael's father and remarrying, says the filmmakers were particularly reckless in their dramatic reenactments of certain events. One scene has the shot of a what is set up as Melendez's body in a bathtub, with a saw sitting beside it. The shots are neatly pointed up with the sound effect of a saw slicing through something. "There was no saw involved," Blair says emphatically. "It was a knife." While Blair acknowledges that she can't really be objective--seeing the entire sordid nightmare through the eyes of a mother--she has come to grips with her son's role in the death of Melendez. "You have no idea how painful this has been for me," she says. Blair explains her son's actions by saying Alig was suffering from a severe heroin addiction, a drug problem which culminated in the crime. She argues Alig acted in self defense against Melendez, who had a notorious temper and was also strung out on heroin. She also contends her son's defense in a court of law suffered because he didn't have the financial resources to hire a hotshot lawyer. The public defender provided, she claims, was homophobic. Throughout the trial, Alig was suffering from severe withdrawal and was offered no methadone. Blair now reports Alig is showing signs of improvement, despite his imprisonment. "He's doing really well. He's totally drug free. He's writing a book on his life, called Don't Get Mad at Michael. "He loves to write letters to people and to get mail. He writes me four letters a week. He spends his money on postage." Blair says Alig is also a fan of the cult series Dark Shadows, so she's been collecting every episode on video and sending them to him. "He begs for these tapes. "People must remember that Michael also helped people--he created a society for people who didn't fit the norm," she says, referring to the Club Kids. "Not everyone gets their face on the cover of New York magazine at the age of 22. I'm so proud of Michael." And Blair says the ordeal of watching her son go to prison has taken its toll. "I've had a really bad day of depression," she says, especially after watching "that Clinton crap" on TV. "I'm worried Michael's spirit will be broken. 2006 is a long way off. He doesn't belong in prison. "Reality has set in for me, now that there are no more trials to attend." Those interested in writing Michael Alig can do so at Michael Alig, 97A6595, Downstate Correctional Facility, P.O. Box F, Red Schoolhouse Road, Fishkills, New York, 12524, USA
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Though she was eager to discuss her son's story with the filmmakers of Party Monster, Michael Alig's mother, Elke, has emerged as one of the film's main critics.